1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reproduction device and method thereof, and more particularly to a technique of reproducing thumbnail images of a stereo image (hereinafter referred to as a “3D image”) composed of plural images obtained by capturing the identical subject from plural viewpoints.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has hitherto been proposed an image data production device which produces an image file having recorded thereon a 3D image being image information corresponding to plural viewpoints, its thumbnail image, and three-dimensional control information for displaying as the 3D image (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-349731).
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-349731, as the thumbnail image corresponding to the 3D image, there is described the following plural types of thumbnail images and the like.    (1) Images obtained by directly scaling down and arranging 3D images of all viewpoints    (2) Image obtained by extracting and scaling down a 3D image of one viewpoint    (3) Image embedded with a symbol indicating that the image is three-dimensional
There has also been proposed an image file production device which produces a stereo image file (3D image file) having recorded thereon a 3D image and a thumbnail image file having recorded thereon a two-dimensional image (hereinafter referred to as a “2D image”) as the thumbnail image of the 3D image (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-349732). The 3D image file and the thumbnail image file corresponding to the 3D image are named under the naming rule based on DCF (Design rule for Camera File system: unified recording format for digital camera), but these two image files are named so as to have the same file name and different extensions, so that these are associated with each other.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-349731, as the thumbnail image corresponding to a 3D image, there is described an example of plural types of thumbnail images, but only one thumbnail image is recorded in one image file. Thus, even in an image reproduction device for 3D image capable of reproducing various types of thumbnail images, one fixed thumbnail image preliminarily recorded on the image file is all that can be displayed; for example, when different types of thumbnail images are recommended by each device, there is a problem that displaying of thumbnail images recommended by each device or displaying of the thumbnail image of a type preliminarily set by the user cannot be performed.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-349732, there is no description of the type of thumbnail image corresponding to 3D image. Consequently, when an image reproduction device for reproducing a 3D image reproduces a thumbnail image based on a thumbnail image file having recorded thereon a 2D thumbnail image, one fixed thumbnail image preliminarily recorded on the thumbnail image file is all that can be displayed. Thus, the problem similar to that with the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-349731 arises.
The present invention addresses this problem, with the object of providing an image reproduction device and method thereof which can reproduce in a short length of time, an optimum one of different thumbnail images of plural types produced as the thumbnail image of a 3D image, or a thumbnail image of a type desired by a user.